St Petersburg: Shadows of the PastFragile, gritty, and vital to an extraordinary degree, St. Petersburg is one of the world’s most alluring cities—a place in which the past is at once ubiquitous and inescapably controversial. Yet outsiders are far more familiar with the city’s pre-1917 and Second World War history than with its recent past. In this beautifully illustrated and highly original book, Catriona Kelly shows how creative engagement with the past has always been fundamental to St. Petersburg’s residents. Weaving together oral history, personal observation, literary and artistic texts, journalism, and archival materials, she traces the at times paradoxical feelings of anxiety and pride that were inspired by living in the city, both when it was socialist Leningrad, and now. Ranging from rubbish dumps to promenades, from the city’s glamorous center to its grimy outskirts, this ambitious book offers a compelling and always unexpected panorama of an extraordinary and elusive place. |
Contents
| 21 | |
Making a Home on the Neva | 63 |
City Spaces | 93 |
Initiation into the Working Class | 129 |
Eliseev and Aprashka | 170 |
Theatre Street | 209 |
From Nord to Saigon | 251 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
apartment artists became began blocks building café Cemetery cent centre Chapter church city’s communal completely course culture dacha director discussion district early entire example fact factory famous figures flat former friends given hand houses important instance institutions interesting Island January kind Kirov late later leading Leningrad less living look major March material memory metro Moscow moved Museum Nevsky numbers offered official ofthe once Oxf/AHRC SPb-07 particularly Party past performance photographs plans political post-Soviet practice production prospekt recalled remained remembered reported round Russian sense side social sometimes Soviet period space St Petersburg started Station street style theatre things tion took traditional tram turned usually woman young